The present embodiments relate to identifying a location of a medical device or structure in an image, such as locating a guide wire or vessel for treating coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease (e.g., occurrence of coronary stenosis) is among the most frequent diseases. Current standard diagnosis and interventional treatment is coronary angiography and angioplasty under fluoroscopy.
During the intervention for coronary artery disease, different acquisition modes are employed. High-quality images (e.g., CINE Acquisition) are acquired to resolve details and localize the target stenosis after injection of a contrast medium. During navigation phases, when the interventional cardiologist tries to advance a guide wire to the position of the occlusion, an acquisition mode of imaging with less dose and thus reduced image contrast is employed (e.g., fluoroscopy). Fluoroscopy is used for real-time monitoring of the procedure and catheter location visualization. Metal guide wires may be viewed in fluoroscopic images, but unreliably. Vessels are more difficult to view, especially since injected contrast agent is not typically provided for fluoroscopy. 2D fluoroscopic images lack detailed anatomical information due to the incapability of X-ray in distinguishing among soft tissues and low dosage. For example, interventional treatment of Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO) of the coronary arteries is a complicated and time consuming process due to the lack of visibility of the occluded vessels under fluoroscopy.
It is desirable to provide visual guidance for the recanalization of the occluded vessel segment. This is particularly true for the antegrade approach, where no retrograde wire is used that could indicate the direction for the antegrade wire. Locating the vessel or guide wire without the use of prior information may be difficult. In interventions, the guiding catheter tip, vessel, and guide wire are undergoing motions, such as due to breathing or the heart cycle. Using Kalman filtering as a motion prior may assist in locating the guide wire and/or vessel.